THE Rock N Pop gelding Surely Sacred landed an important win in the 2,000-metre Group 2 Avondale Guineas at Ellerslie on Saturday that sees him at the head of the market for New Zealand Derby on March 2nd.

A winner of the 1,600-metre Auckland Guineas on New Year’s Day on just his third start, Surely Sacred, trained by Tony Pike – who won his first Derby with Rangipo in 2016 – was ridden by Vinnie Colgan, who secured the ride following the suspension of regular rider Leith Innes.

Winning by a long-neck, the NZ$160,000 Karaka Premier Sale yearling defeated the Fastnet Rock gelding In A Twinkling, with a gap to the O’Reilly colt Vernanme.

“It was a good, tough win as they put the pressure on,” said Pike. “Vinnie set him alight and he has hit the front early enough. He (Colgan) probably left a little bit of juice in the tank knowing he had already qualified for the Derby and he will improve off that again. Just the way he travelled up to them today was nice to see, he wasn’t in any trouble and I can’t wait for two weeks’ time.”